Persona 3: Shattered Fate
by RandytheBlackKnight
Summary: One minor change, two living, when one should have died. Now two Fools embark upon the Journey. But, one change will bring about others, not all of them good. What new Fate awaits them? And will they be able to rise to the challenges of the Tower of Demise?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Arrival

 _ **"My, my, such an interesting fate these two have, wouldn't you agree, Philemon? Quite the interesting tale in the first place, but I must admit, I dislike the idea of only one of the two surviving that night, far too much potential lost. Thus I have changed that, now we have two Fools for the price of one; I do wonder what will happen."**_

" _Your interference was neither needed nor wanted Lucifer. While you haven't changed the Journey's end, you have altered the path significantly. I must admit, I'm curious as to why you would do this, surely if you thought the end was unsatisfying you could have aided them more directly, I do not understand your reasoning Light-Bringer."_

" _ **I do this for the same reason I do anything, to protect humanity and grant them freedom, to bring Chaos, it is true that preventing one death will not alter the end of the Journey, I doubt even the Demi-Fiend could accomplish that, but it will alter what comes after significantly."**_

" _You say you protect them, but you always seem to leave a very large amount of destruction and death in your wake, as for what comes after, while I was only expecting one guest, they are still my charges… ah, you wish to add one with the power of the Wild Card to your ranks. So I assume you intend to further escalate your war with YHVH by having the one you've saved join you?"_

" _ **You speak as if I will not give them a choice in the matter; I am not like the True Enemy. No, I've merely tipped the scales a bit more in humanity's favor is all. We have that in common do we not, the desire to guide them?"**_

" _Do not compare us, Fallen One, your vision would bring naught but suffering and destruction, Chaos left unchecked is just as bad as the Tyrant's despotism. Not to mention the sheer amount of tragedy you bring, in the end you are attempting to force your will upon humanity just as he is. "_

" _ **Perhaps, but how much unnecessary suffering does your inaction bring? How many meaningless deaths, such as the one I have so kindly prevented, have occurred because you did nothing? If my actions make me evil Philemon, then your refusal to act makes you the same. Tell me that boy, Tatsuya, couldn't all of his suffering have been avoided if you'd merely-"**_

" _ENOUGH! Unless you wish to see just how powerful I am, Light-Bringer, you will cease speaking of that subject."_

" _ **I'm merely pointing out that we are the same, we actually care for humanity, we wish to see them grow and become stronger, whereas our counterparts have nothing but contempt for them, seeing them as naught but vermin and tools. Despite our own differing stances on what exactly the aforementioned growth entails, after all what we wish it to be is ultimately irrelevant. They will find their own way, whether that way is to the Heavens or to the Abyss, it all depends on if they can be saved from their own desires. Nevertheless, it should be quite the interesting Journey to watch, the stage is set, the die is cast, and the cards have been dealt, let us see if these Fools will rise to the occasion or if they will Fall beneath the weight of destiny."**_

" _I have faith they will succeed, the Light in their hearts may be dim, but once it has been kindled it will burn a swath through the Shadows, and defy Death itself."_

* * *

4/6 Late Night

* * *

Two teens sat practically alone on the late train, one a boy of average height, wearing a school uniform consisting of an open black jacket, with a white dress shirt underneath, he had dress pants and shoes to match the jacket, what was truly striking however was his unusual blue hair, which sharply contrasted with his silver headphones, and the perpetually bored expression on his face. His companion was a slightly shorter girl with brown hair, silver XXII hair piece, who appeared to be wearing the female equivalent of his uniform, the main difference being her jacket was closed, as well as sporting a medium length skirt and long white socks. She'd forgone the dress shoes the other was wearing in favor of red and white sneakers. Her brown hair was pulled back into a short disorderly pony tail and held by the pin. Her face was framed by messy bangs and a pair of red headphones.

The boy was staring out the window as he had been for the past few hours, watching the darkness flow by and listening to his music as the train thundered onward to its destination. The girl by contrast, had been asleep for almost an hour and a half; the small semblance of order imposed upon her hair by the pin was effectively ruined due to her constant shifting.

It was near midnight when the voice came through the train's PA system, which had suddenly blared to life, spouting out something about a malfunction in the switching system as explanation to its extremely delayed schedule. The blue haired teen didn't really acknowledge the excuse; instead he focused his blue-grey eyes on the speaker, listening past his music for the next stop to be announced. A second later he was rewarded, "Iwatodai, the next stop is Iwatodai. Please do not leave any luggage or personal items when leaving the train."

Across from the boy the other teen stirred from her slumber, headphones playing a softer song, she briefly stretched and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear the drowsiness still dogging her after the nap. "Minaaato, are we there yet?" The girl took off her headphones and looked at him with striking red eyes that betrayed a mix of boredom, impatience, and, if he looked hard enough, a well hidden trace of nervousness. Reaching across to smooth the girls hair, as much to comfort her as to actually fix the increasingly disheveled mess on her head, Minato spoke in a flat, bored monotone, "It's the next stop, we'll be there in a few minutes," the striking dichotomy of his voice and expression with the comforting gesture did not go unnoticed by his companion.

"Seriously bro, you need to work on your expressiveness, otherwise you're not going to make any friends, and then who will eat my cookies? Do you want those countless cookies to be to go to waste, because you didn't have anyone to share them with?"

Minato attempted to intercede "Hamuko, I don't think that…" he was verbally blitzed by his sister however, "I work hard on those cookies you know, slaving over a hot oven just to bring some joy into my cousin and brother's lives, but you don't even eat them all, you two waste so many it's nothing short of a tragedy! A travesty! Hours spent making the dough from scratch, lovingly spreading the chocolate chips just right so that every bite gives you that wonderful feeling of gooey euphoria, the amazing sensation of chocolate slightly melted from the warmth of its breaded prison being freed onto your tongue!" She paused to take a breath and continued, "Wasting cookies is nothing short of a sin Minato, a SIN! These are no factory produced chemical laden things sold in any common store! These cookies are made by your adoring sister-"

" _Hamuko_!" Minato swiftly ended her rant about sweets, "Yes?" "We're here" sure enough the train was slowing down, and would come to a complete stop in only another minute or so. Hamuko looked around, having been so caught up in her rant as to forget just how near they were to their destination, "Oh". She blinked and looked out the window, as the train pulled into the station, "Attention passengers, we have now arrived at our destination, please depart the train" the speakers projected another message, punctuated by the sound of the doors opening.

"Come on Minato, our new life awaits!" Hamuko quickly slung her bag over her shoulder, as Minato did the same, he attempted to step out into the aisle only for her to grab him by the arm and drag him out to the station. Just as expected the train station was mostly deserted at such a late hour, however, one thing caught the siblings attention, it was a rather large blue butterfly. It almost seemed to be glowing as it gracefully fluttered to them, circling them both before briefly touching them, first Minato followed by Hamuko, it circled them once more before disappearing into the shadows, a faint, quickly fading glow was the only evidence it had even been there at all. The two looked around in slightly confused daze, attempting to make sense of what just happened, before Hamuko's eyes landed on the clock, only a few seconds from midnight. She visibly tensed, grabbing her brother's hand in a near crushing grip. And then the world Shifted.

Everything electronic suddenly went dead all at once, the ATMs, the lights, the clock, even their MP3 players, it all stopped as if suddenly sapped of power. Pools of blood began to form seemingly out of nowhere, the floors, the stairs; blood even began oozing down a few of the walls. The few people in the station were suddenly replaced with oversized obsidian coffins, each one polished to mirror shine. The atmosphere became heavy and oppressive, making it noticeably harder to breath. The world was bathed in a pale green light that seemed to permeate everywhere, even indoors, just bright enough to find ones way, but dark enough that one could easily avoid being seen. Most strikingly, however, was the moon; now a bright yellow as well as unnaturally large and imposing in the sky. With the change came a lurching of despair in their stomachs, they looked into each other's eyes and by silent agreement began to walk towards the station's exit.

Outside under the baleful gaze of the moon which seemed to take up a quarter of the sky, Minato started rummaging through his pockets, slipping his hand out of his sister's vice, he reached into his jacket and withdrew a map. "Let's see, we're at Iwatodai station, and we need to get to the Dorms… So three blocks down and then a left… or is that a right?" Minato mumbled a bit as he read the map.

"OH, just let me see that thing! It can't be _that_ hard to read and I don't want to be out here at this hour." Snatching the map from him, Hamuko looked at it, then began turning it in various ways, unable to decipher exactly what was what, or find any indication of direction beyond very hard to read street names, or a legend of any sort for that matter "What the hell kind of map is this? Half of what's on here doesn't make any sense!"

She quickly handed him back the now slightly crumpled paper. Maintaining his still bored expression Minato smoothed it out to the best of his ability, "Well let's get going, after all, the dorm isn't supposed to be far from here, even without the map we should be able to find it pretty easily." So the two began walking in the direction the map seemed to indicate their destination was in.

Nearly an hour of walking and no less than five heated arguments at various intersections later the two finally arrived at the Iwatodai Dormitory.

Hamuko sighed, "Finally, it's bad enough we got lost in the first place, but all the coffins and blood just make it so much worse." Minato for his part merely shrugged, walking up to the door and holding it open for his sister, as the two entered inside they noticed something, the lights in the room were on but rather than banishing the shadows the light seemed to only make them deeper, as if drawing them out into the room. Hamuko was about to comment on it when a voice spoke from just left of them.

"You're late; I've been waiting a long time for you."

They both stiffened at the sound, slowly turning to face its source. On the other side of the sign in desk there was a boy in stripped clothing with looking at them while using his hands to prop up his head. Perhaps the more disturbing thing was how much he looked like a younger version of Minato; the two had only just acknowledged the resemblance when he was suddenly right in front of them, having just appeared there without actually moving. Once he was sure he had their attention he started to speak again, "Now if you want to proceed please sign your name there." He snapped then, and the two could hear the sound of folders being opened. "It's a contract, don't worry all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff." Indeed on the desk there were two open folders, each containing a contract that had the exact same words:

 _I, the signator of this contract, hereby accept full and total responsibility for the consequences of my actions._

 _I chooseth this fate of my own free will._

Once again the siblings' eyes found each other, the gaze held for a minute before a consensus was reached, seeing the sentences as harmless enough they signed their names on the lines.

 _Arisato, Minato_

 _Arisato, Hamuko_

The boy gave a disturbing smirk when they looked back at him, holding the now closed contracts in his hand, "No one can escape time, it delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes." As he spoke, he raised the contracts to his face, and with a turn of his hand they disappeared entirely. The lights suddenly went out, and the boy began to slowly vanish into the shadows "And so it begins." Before either sibling could so much as process the statement, he was gone.

"Who's there!?" a panicked shout broke through any thoughts the two were having about the strange boy. Near the stairs stood a girl who looked to be about their age, wearing a pink sweater over what they assumed was the same uniform they had, a white choker with a heart on the side, and a red armband that said 'S.E.E.S', but most importantly, strapped to her leg was what appeared to be a gun, one which she was quickly moving to unholster.

That got a reaction out of Minato, who quickly moved in front of Hamuko, just as the Girl's hand reached the weapon and started to pull it out. "Takeba wait!" before things could get out of hand, a more mature and controlled voice interjected, the girl looking to the new presence, visibly calming at the sight of them. At that moment the world returned to normal, the sound of the siblings' music, having picked up exactly where it left off, filling the still tense air.

The situation having seemingly been resolved the siblings looked to their apparent savior, she was breathtakingly beautiful, her long red hair completely covered one eye and a good portion of her face, though it did not obscure her other eye, a slightly darker red than Hamuko's own eyes, it was nonetheless striking in its own right, clearly analyzing the two of them, it betrayed a great depth of intelligence and control. Height wise she was in the middle of them all, being shorter than Minato, but taller than Hamuko and the other girl. She was wearing a white blouse, the same armband as the other girl, a long black skirt, knee high leather boots and a red ribbon around her neck. Even the gun belt at her waste didn't seem out of place.

In what seemed to be a total contrast to the confrontation that had only just occurred, she walked up past the other girl and calmly introduced herself, "I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

"Who are they?" Takeba spoke; she seemed to have completely calmed down from her earlier state of panic, though Minato made sure to stay between her and Hamuko.

"They're transfer students. It was a last minute decision to assign them here." Mitsuru explained to their apparent dorm mate, "They'll eventually be moved to rooms in the other dorms."

"Is it okay for them to be here?" Takeba asked, while Hamuko began trying to elbow her way past Minato.

"I guess we'll see…" Mitsuru looked amused, whether by Hamuko's antics, as she'd quickly escalated her attempts to see the other two people in the room better, Minato's stubborn refusal to so much as budge, or her companion's apparent paranoia and lack of anything remotely resembling subtlety the twins couldn't tell.

"This is Yukari Takeba." Mitsuru introduced their apparent dorm mate, "she'll be a junior this spring just like you."

Yukari gave a half bow and a "Hey"

"Why do you have a gun?" Hamuko asked, her head tilted slightly in equal parts confusion and the desire to see around her brother.

Yukari seemed to be caught off guard by the question "Huh?" she scrambled for a reasonable excuse, "Um, well it's sorta like a hobby… well not a hobby, but."

"You know how it is these days…" Mitsuru interjected to save Yukari's floundering attempt at an explanation. "It's for self-defense. It's not a real gun of course."

This statement seemed to appease Minato somewhat and he allowed Hamuko out from behind him, though he stayed close enough to get back in front of her easily should that turn out to be a lie.

"It's getting late, so you should get some rest." As if to agree with Mitsuru's assessment Hamuko let out a large yawn, having apparently burned through whatever energy sleeping on the train earned her.

"Your rooms are on the second and third floors respectively, each at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there." Mitsuru then gave a rather pointed look to Yukari.

"Oh… I'll show you the way. Follow me." She seemed to understand the unspoken command Mitsuru gave her.

After walking up the stairs they arrived at Minato's room first, "This is it. Pretty easy to remember huh? Since its right at the end of the hall." She continued on, "Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it." She paused for a second, "so any questions?"

Surprisingly it was Minato who responded this time, "Does that kid live here too?" His sister looked genuinely shocked at not only the subject manner, but because he actually sounded interested in it.

Yukari for her part just looked confused, "What kid? What are you talking about?" she thought for a second, "…C'mon, it's not funny."

"Um… can I ask you something?" She seemed slightly hesitant and nervous "On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

"What do you mean?" The twins asked simultaneously, though in very different tones, Minato fading back to his normal bored sound, while Hamuko's own voice was tinged with hope.

"You know what I-" Yukari began to elaborate, but seemed to decide against it, "Never mind." Hamuko's expression fell at that, "It seems like you're alright."

Yukari spoke up, either oblivious to the other girl's disappointment or simply opting to ignore it, "Well we'd better get going." As she walked off with Hamuko in tow the latter turned around and said "'Night, Minato!" her voice filled with a false cheer. "Goodnight Hamuko," he responded as he went into the room and prepared to sleep what was left of the night away.

The two girls went up to the next floor, after walking down the hall to Hamuko's room and repeating her warning about losing the room key, as well as a preemptive "save your questions for later" Yukari went to her own room. Hamuko, now alone with her thoughts, let out a large sigh, "So much for that" still sullen about the other girl's change of subject, as she'd been hoping for answers to at least of few of the questions that had been plaguing her and Minato for years now. After some deliberation she decided it would simply be best to get some sleep, it was still a school night after all, and it wouldn't do to show up looking sleep deprived on her first day.

* * *

4/7 Early Morning

* * *

Minato had just finished getting ready for the day when a series of knocks sounded at his door. "It's Yukari. Are you awake?" He briefly contemplated what she wanted _. Most likely she's been roped into showing Hamuko and I the way to school, it might be best to take her up on the offer, if only to appease Kirijo-san, I get the feeling being on her bad side would make things extremely unpleasant._ His internal deliberation was interrupted by the distinctive, and much louder, voice of his sister. "I know you're awake Minato, so hurry up and open the door!" a series of louder knocks punctuated the command.

Briefly rolling his eyes at his sister's antics, and silently hoping she didn't break the door, Minato strolled across his room and did as ordered. Hamuko didn't even wait for the door to be all the way open before shoving her way into his room, with a slightly apologetic looking Yukari following, "Good Morning, did you sleep okay?"

 _As well as can be expected when someone tries to pull a not-gun on you as your welcome, yes._ Counter to his internal commentary, Minato gave a small shrug. Seeing that as a good enough response Yukari continued on, "Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school." _On a first name basis with our senpai are you?_ That bit actually caught his attention as the two didn't seem that close from what he picked up on last night. _Though it may just be a result of being in the same club, they were wearing the same armband after all._

Oblivious to his scrutiny, Yukari talked on somewhat awkwardly, "It's getting late sooo…. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah I'm ready." The blue haired boy spoke for the first time in the conversation.

"Good! I've already made you a lunch, oh I'm so excited!" Hamuko chose to interject, bouncing somewhat on the balls of her feet.

"Okay. Then let's go." Yukari smiled at Hamuko's energy.

As the three walked to Iwatodai station, Yukari pointed out various stores, restaurants and other points of interest along the way, occasionally giving a hello to a passing student. _Well at least she's easy to follow, being the only one wearing pink with a white on black uniform_. Minato idly thought as he took in the surroundings trying to determine if there was a more direct route. Hamuko for her part was practically bouncing into every step, eyes wide as she tried to take in as much as possible.

The impromptu tour continued on the train, with Yukari, mentioning the places that they hadn't seen on the way, most of the information centered on the Paulownia Mall, and Gekkoukan high school. "So that's it." She'd reached the end of the information, though Minato had to admit, it was actually helpful as it gave him something of a reference to go by.

Hamuko, for her part, was enraptured by the view as the monorail went over the ocean; "It feels like we're flying!" The childish awe in his sister's words made a small smile appear on Minato's face, and Yukari giggled a bit at the comment, "I know, it's my favorite part." Then the school came into view, its pristine white walls seemed to give off a light of their own, nearly blinding him, Minato wasn't the only one apparently as he noticed a few others averting their eyes as well.

When the three got off the train and began the walk to school, the first thing Minato noticed was the sheer density of students _. Apparently the pamphlets weren't lying, they have a massive student body, no wonder the school is so huge, you'd probably fill a normal sized school to bursting with this many people_. He'd apparently gone deeper into his musing than he'd thought, because before he knew it they were at the gates. "Well this is it, we're here, welcome to Gekkoukan High school, hope you like it!"

When they walked by the shoe lockers Yukari turned around, "You're okay from here, right?" A nod from both siblings, though Hamuko's was much more exaggerated, and she continued "You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty office is right there to the left." She pointed to the hallway near what appeared to be the classroom assignment postings "…And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?"

 _Well Hamuko_ did _say I should try to make some friends, at least if I do she'll have someone else to give diabetes to with those cookies of hers_. "Which class are you in?"

Yukari clearly wasn't prepared for him to ask that, in fact she'd been looking semi-expectantly at his sister when she'd asked, "Me? I dunno… I haven't looked at the classroom assignments yet." Minato was somewhat impressed with how quickly she composed herself, and somewhat surprised at her next topic. "Hey, about last night… Don't tell anyone about what you saw okay?" _Well isn't that too bad, and here I was going to center my memoirs around it, the hour of coffins, blood, and a girl that knows absolutely nothing about subtly. I'm pretty sure it would have been a best seller._

"…See ya later." Yukari belted out awkwardly under Hamuko's own exasperated gaze, then walked off rather quickly.

Hamuko sighed and looked at Minato, "Well, at least we know we aren't crazy, let's go look at the class assignments before we go to the faculty office."

Minato chuckled "ahh the old song and dance, it never changes."

The two made their way to the board, maneuvering through the crowd of those who had the same idea. Scanning the board for their names the two failed to find them, however a second look revealed a sticky note just barely holding on, "Hamuko and Minato Arisato, Class F." Hamuko read aloud, "Well at least we know they didn't forget about us, Faculty office it is!" She then grabbed his hand and began quite literally dragging him to the destination.

* * *

Faculty Office

* * *

Hamuko's excitement wasn't as genuine as it seemed, in fact, she was more nervous than anything, I know it was my idea to come back here, but I can't help worrying that this might make him worse. No he needs closure; he can't keep ignoring what happened. The duo entered the Faculty office, gaining the attention of a teacher "Oh, are you the new students?" they both nodded "Hamuko and Minato Arisato, 11th grade correct?"

"Yes Ma'am." Hamuko responded with cheer, trying to make a good impression.

"Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places… Let's see in 1999… that was ten years ago" _please don't talk about it, please don't talk about it_. "Your parents-" Minato tried to hide his flinch at the subject, and probably would have if Hamuko wasn't watching him like a hawk out of the corner of her eye. The teacher meanwhile let out a sharp gasp, having clearly read far enough to find the subject uncomfortable, "I'm sorry, I've been so busy I didn't have time to read this beforehand."

"I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school." Hamuko was grateful for the subject change; Minato didn't handle it well when people pried into the matter of their parents. _He doesn't handle anything well, keeping everything bottled up like he does just isn't right._

"Nice to meet you!" The two showed an uncanny ability to say the exact same thing with two totally different tones of voice. Hamuko's enthusiastic pitch and Minato's polite, subdued tone conflicting to create a strange dichotomy.

"Wow, such enthusiasm! Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F; that's my class. But first we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me." Ms. Toriumi led the two through the halls, and giving a helpful tour of the school along the way, though it just mostly confirmed what Yukari had said earlier.

 _She seems nice, certainly nicer than a few of the teachers we've had; I hope we don't have to deal with any mean teachers this year. Still though, other than yesterday this seems like it's going to be a good start to the year. Grandpa certainly has made sure everything went smoothly, even being as far away as he is. I'll have to remember to call and tell him about all about it later._

Little did she know the horror they were about to be subjected to…

* * *

Gekkoukan Auditorium

* * *

"As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember the old proverb, "if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well" When applied to student life this means." The old principle continued on in a speech that so boring it could be weaponized.

 _I swear this man could put an insomniac to sleep, hell, just record this speech as a miracle cure, you'd make millions, demand for melatonin would plummet, it'd be worthless compared to this._ Minato's internal monologue was interrupted by the student behind him.

"Psst… Hey... You came to school with Yukari this morning right? I saw you two walking together. Hey I have a question."

 _Really, I thought you were just stating information both of us already knew, I would never have guessed that you'd have a_ question _of all things_.

"Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"

 _Why am I not surprised? At least the silver lining is he that he isn't asking me about Hamuko, seriously I know we look nothing alike but still did they really have to assume we were in a relationship? Anyways, back to this idiot, sarcasm, lies, or the truth. For some reason I feel that he probably can't even spell sarcasm let alone understand it, lies would get Yukari angry, so truth it is._

"I don't know." Minato spoke as he ended his internal debate. _Probably the result of having known her for less than twelve hours, maybe at two weeks she'll open up and give me all of her tragic backstory._

"I see, I thought you might know, but I guess not. Hey about that other girl, you and her seemed kinda close." Minato definitely didn't like the suggestive tone he was using.

"She's my sister." Minato somehow made the simple three word statement sound threatening without actually changing from his normal bored tone, which if the look on a certain students face was any indication, simply made it that much worse.

"I hear talking. I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class." The boy jumped back into his own seat, before the teacher could zero in on him. "Shh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!" Ms. Toriumi herself also spoke up; giving a glare that Minato was secretly glad to not have focused on him.

That of course did nothing to deter the three fourths of the student body having conversations. Unfortunately, that also meant there was nothing to really take Minato's attention away from the Principal's speech. _This is gonna be a long Welcoming Ceremony._

* * *

Class 2-F, After School

* * *

Standing by her brother in the class room Hamuko, noticed a student walking up to them, he had a goatee, wore a purple shirt under his school jacket, as opposed to the normal white, and he also had a hat. He stood slightly taller than Minato, forcing Hamuko to look up to see his face. "S'up dudes?" He greeted. "How's it goin'?"

Noticing the look Mianto was giving the newcomer, she elbowed him, and sent him a look, the command 'be nice' very clearly received.

"Who are you?" he asked, not nice per se, but not impolite either.

"Me? I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya."

Hamuko smiled, "Hi! I'm Hamuko, and this is my twin brother Minato." She punctuated this by hugging Minato's neck. He promptly broke the hold, by straightening to his full height.

"Really? 'Cause, no offence, but you two look nothin' alike." Before either of them could respond, Yukari walked over, capturing his attention.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again." The Man in the Hat didn't actually sound surprised at all.

Yukari gave an overly dramatic sigh "At it again huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

"What? But I was just bein' friendly…" Junpei actually seemed somewhat off put by the accusation.

"If you say so." She took on a teasing edge, "Anyway looks like we're in the same homeroom…"

"It's probably just a coincidence." Minato observed, only to be immediately overruled by his sister, "WRONG! It clearly must be Fate!"

That earned her incredulous looks from the other three. "Fate? Yeah Right." Yukari dismissed her statement with a snort before chuckling "Still, I'm a little surprised." The Girl in Pink smiled at the twins.

"Um, Hello, Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too?" Junpei broke back into the conversation, "By the way, I heard you three came to school together this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!" Hamuko could tell that he was both satisfying his own curiosity and getting back at Yukari for the earlier teasing at the same time.

"Wh-what are you talking about!? We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay. Why are people even talking about it? Now you have me worried…"

And judging by that overly defensive reaction it appears to have worked pretty well. _Might as well help a brother out, right? Hehehehehe._ Putting on her best pout Hamuko spoke up, "Awww really? And here I was hoping I was gonna be an Auntie."

This caused both Yukari and Minato to double take, the former in complete shock, while the latter gave her a glare that promised retribution. Junpei's grin turned into a full on smirk and the two exchanged a high five before the conversation picked up again.

"Hey…" Yukari looked around nervously "You didn't say anything to anyone about… you know what did you?"

 _Is she serious? Junpei is RIGHT HERE, and you ask that? Even after what just happened? I don't know whether to thank whatever gods there may be I have someone this easy to tease, or lament the lack of subtly._

"Nope" Her brother's response broke Hamuko out of her thoughts.

"Okay, good." Yukari's relieved response didn't actually help appearances, "Seriously… Don't say anything about last night, alright?" For some reason she specifically looked at Minato when she said that.

Hamuko's face morphed into naked shock "What!?" the flat quiet tone contrasting with her normal energy. _She couldn't have made that sound any worse if she'd tried._ Junpei apparently shared her sentiments if his own expression of shock was anything to go by.

"Wh-what?" Yukari looked and sounded put off by the two. _Oh my god, she doesn't realize what that sounded like at all does she?_

"L-last night…?" Junpei was clearly in shock.

Minato just looked bored of the conversation, but that was how he normally looked.

"I… am gonna be an Auntie?" Hamuko simply couldn't pass up the chance to tease her brother; Yukari had unwittingly set it up perfectly, though she herself was a casualty of it. _Acceptable losses._

The Glare Minato sent her way would have caused most people to cower in fear, but fortunately Hamuko knew there wasn't any force behind it. _You never can actually bring yourself to follow through on those threats, verbal or not, you so love to make to me, hell you can't even stay mad at Naoto for more than five minutes at a time before forgiving her. Anyone else though…_

"W-wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea!" Yukari was reacting more violently than she'd expected, "Listen! I just met him yesterday and there's absolutely nothing between us!" She calmed down after that. "Geez… I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team. But, you'd better not start any rumors!" She quickly walked away from the three.

"Ah, who cares? No one takes rumors seriously anyway. She's so paranoid." Junpei looked exasperated but quickly became excited again. "But hey, it's your first day here and people are already talking about you! Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular, You da Man!"

Hamuko beamed at him, "Hehehe, this gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!" The two shared another high five. The three then walked out of the class room, heading home, talking about this and that, turns out Junpei and Minato had some common ground in a shared love of fighting games, while Haumko whole heartedly backed Junpei's theory that all crane game machines were both rigged and cursed.

They parted ways with Junpei at Iwatodai Station and headed back to the dorm. "You're apologizing to Yukari." Minato's stern tone didn't brook any argument, "I know, I went too far, but come on, she totally set that up!" She defended. The two finished walking to the dormitory, and were greeted my Mitsuru, "Welcome back." Looked up from her book as the two entered, as the two looked at the sign in book, only Mitsuru's name was on it, something Minato corrected by signing his name, while Hamuko just ignored it, "You should finish unpacking Minato!" she said as she skipped up to her room.

Following her own advice, Hamuko got to work, putting up posters, assembling a small book shelf, and filling said book shelf, a hobby both her and Minato had picked up by reading Naoto when she was little, setting up her play station, her laptop, organizing her cloths, and making a list of things she needed to buy. Or at least that's what she would have insisted she was doing to anyone who walked into what could only be described as organized chaos, her things were separated, but that's where the order ended, the cloths were just randomly hung up or folded on top of each other, the books were simply put on the shelf, and a box fort occupied one corner.

"Annnnd done!" She smiled to herself, no one could call her room messy, though no one other than her could make any sense of it either. Her things unpacked she went back down stairs to check on the state of the kitchen. Only to find two cabinets full of instant ramen and a barely stocked fridge, that had bread, cheese, eggs, milk, which she was fairly sure was expired, and more protein shakes than a single person could drink in a month. Suppressing a scream of frustration at the kitchen's state, Hamuko checked the milk, threw it out, and then taking the pen from the sign in desk, she began expanding the list she'd started earlier, muttering violently to herself all the while.

She saw Mitsuru watching with a raised eyebrow, before Minato came down the stairs talking with a man with silver hair, standing taller than anyone else in the dorm, with a red sweater vest in place of the normal Gekkoukan blazer. He seemed to be pulling on a pair of leather gloves, "Kendo huh? Well to each their own I guess, don't get me wrong it's great training for your reflexes, but I prefer boxing, more applicable in real life situations." Her brother nodded, apparently conceding the point. Then they noticed her "So you must Hamuko then, name's Akihiko Sanada." The taller boy extended his now gloved hand and she shook it before turning to her brother and shoving the list she'd made into his hands.

"Here, I need you to get the things I marked by so I can make breakfast tomorrow, the rest can wait for after school, and I'll pay you back when we get home." She finished doling out instructions to her brother, "Oh right, how do you guys feel about omelets?"

Akihiko nodded in the affirmative, "Balanced nutrition, with enough protein to start the day off right, a good choice."

Mitsuru up from her book again, "That sounds fine, Thank you, Arisato."

"Nope, none of that Senpai, you can call Minato over there 'Arisato' all you like, since he's a stickler for formality, but you can just call me Hamuko, less confusing that way." As she'd spoken she'd already started taking stock of the various pots, pans, plates, and utensils in the kitchen.

"Then I insist you do the same Hamuko-san." The senior spoke up after recovering for a second.

"I'll get going then, shouldn't be out more than an hour or two." Minato said, having taken the pen, gone back to the sign in sheet, singed it and moved to leave.

One look from Mitsuru was all it took for Akihiko to rush to the entrance "I'll go with you." He said just before the two exited the building.

Once they were gone, silence settled over the dorm, occasionally broken by clanging as Hamuko moved something or otherwise rearranged the kitchen. Mitsuru spoke up breaking it more thoroughly, "So, it seems as if you're the more take-charge of the two of you, as it were?" she ventured.

A brief laugh echoed at that, "Seems like it doesn't it? Actually Minato makes most of the big choices, I might be the more sociable one, but I'm terrible at planning ahead. I just kinda defer to him on most things, except for the kitchen, the kitchen is my domain."

"So coming here was his decision?" She asked, not purely out of friendly curiosity.

Hamuko paused at that, "That's a bit more complicated, it was my idea to come back here, but convincing him took a while, but yeah, I didn't want to come without him so I guess it was his decision in a way."

Noting that her junior clearly didn't want to go into detail, Mitsuru changed the subject to the much safer topic of Gekkoukan, and the conversation flowed until the boys got back carrying several bags of groceries each. Several minutes of putting up the newly acquired food, small talk, and one apology to Yukari, when she got back, later, the twins went to sleep. At 12:00:00 the world shifted for an hour, and at 12:00:01 it returned to normal, and the twins lives went on, both unaware of the ordeals to come.

* * *

 **Yay! Authors note time, so this is my first fanfiction in a long time; the last thing I wrote being a now deleted halo fic over on spacebattles several years ago. And personally having read this over think I could have done a lot better. But we all have to start somewhere right? So 16 pages and 7,000+ words later, here we are, the start of Persona 3: Shattered Fate. No, this will not just be a novelization with two protagonists, while that's a fun idea, you eventually run into the problem of them sharing half of their social links with barely any differences between them. Though Shattered Fate will draw very heavily from Persona 3, I mean, it is a Persona 3 fic after all, but there will be some twists and turns not in the game, like having both MCs for example.**

 **There are a lot of things that inspired this story, though the main three are Persona 3: Remix, Persona 3: Fairly English Story, and Persona: Defiance of Fate, By EnternalCombOver, SamJaz, and Solid Shark respectively. Seriously go read those; they're probably leagues above what this'll ever be.**

 **Oh and as a final note, this chapter turned out a lot longer than I'd thought it would be. I honestly don't know if future chapters will be the same length, but I guarantee they'll be over 1,000 words, because having anything less would trigger a pet peeve of mine.**

 **Anyways, please take the time to leave a review so that I can improve my shitty writing, and thanks for reading. If you have any questions or such I'll be sure to respond to them.**

 **AN2: Hurrah for formatting error's that I didn't catch until after I posted the story! went through and fixed 'em though.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Awakening

* * *

4/8, Morning

* * *

Minato was up before anyone else, so he decided to be helpful to Hamuko, he went downstairs to the kitchen still clad in his pajamas and got out all the things his sister would need for breakfast. Afterwards he went back up to the second floor and took a quick shower.

On the way out he passed Akihiko in the hall "Morning, I didn't think you'd be up this early." His senior commented.

Minato shrugged "I just went down and got everything set up for Hamuko is all." Receiving a nod of acknowledgement he continued to his room to finish getting ready for school. After which Minato went back to the ground floor to hear the telltale sounds of omelets being prepared.

"Morning, bro." She said, not even looking up from her cooking, "Yours 'll be done in a minute, thanks for getting everything out by the way." He nodded and went to the lounge to watch the news,

"The recent rise in cases of the Mysterious disease known as Apathy Syndrome continues, with five more cases being confirmed yesterday. Doctors, Psychologists, and Sociologists remain baffled by the illness, being wholly unable to determine if it is a physiological or psychological ailment…" the anchor continued as Minato lost interest. _Apathy Syndrome seems to be all the news talks about lately, sure what it does to a person is disturbing as hell, and the fact no one seems to know anything about what causes it doesn't help matters. But you'd think they'd have other news to talk about at least, or did they just decide to run near constant specials to take advantage of situation for ratings?_

"Breakfast is ready~!" Hamuko called out in a song like fashion. Minato removed himself from the chair he'd been occupying and moved to the dining area to eat, taking a seat across from Mitsuru just as Akihiko and Yukari walked in. "Kirijo-senpai, Sanada-senpai, Takeba-san." He gave a terse greeting to them.

"Good Morning." Yukari greeted somewhat tiredly, Mitsuru nodding in acknowledgement, while Akihiko grunted, moving past Hamuko, who came out with the last of the food, to get a protein shake from the fridge. The first thing Minato noticed when his senpai came back out was that he looked like he'd been in a fight of some kind. _Lost pretty badly too from the looks of it, probably one of those 'real life situations' he talked about last night._

The blue haired teen caught the boxer's eye and shrugged, what his senior did in his spare time wasn't his business. _Though, I have to admit, he waited a while to leave, it was just around_ that _time before I went to sleep and he definitely didn't leave before then..._

He stopped his musing on timing and promptly ate his breakfast, making small talk with everyone as he did so. He and Akihiko were the first ones to finish, going back into the kitchen to wash their dishes, "So, Minato, you feel like going for a run before school? " The boxer spoke up as they finished drying their plates.

"Really? It seems to me like you ran into trouble last night Sanada-senpai. I honestly didn't think you'd be up for anything strenuous today." Minato was actually surprised, _though it has been a while since I got some good exercise, cardio is important after all._

"What this?" Akihiko gestured to the still visible bruises on him, "Nah, it looks a lot worse than it is, so you up for it or not?"

"Depends, are we swinging back here, or are we going all the way to school?" Minato asked

"The latter." Akihiko was getting a grin; he already knew Minato's answer from the way he'd asked the question.

"I'll go get my bag." He smirked at his senpai as the two left the room, getting a nod back in return.

The other three had all apparently finished their food as well, "Tres Bein, Hamuko-san, that was very good." Mitsuru commented, Yukari nodded in agreement, though she seemed awkward around their red headed Senpai. The girls looked up as the two walked past them, "We're going to get in a run, so don't wait up." Akihiko announced.

"Try not to be late then." Mitsuru seemed to have expected exactly that, as she showed no surprise whatsoever.

"We won't, and thanks for the food Hamuko." The Silver haired Boxer said as the two walked into the lounge area, and then went upstairs to retrieve their school supplies before heading out the door, Minato signed out first, just as the other three went to get their things ready for the day.

They started at a reasonable pace, not really that much faster than a jog; though this was more due to the amount of people they were sharing their path with than anything else.

"So what's the route Sanada-senpai?" Minato asked genuinely curious, _I seriously doubt we have the time to cross the Moonlight Bridge, at least not if we don't want to miss the first two hours or so of school._

"Start by running up to the station and taking the early train to Port Island, and then we'll take the roundabout way to school." Akihiko replied pointedly, ignoring more than a few starring girls. "So how's Iwatodai treating you and your sister so far?" He started making conversation when he noticed that the pace wasn't hard on his junior.

"It's been okay so far, we lived here a long time ago, so that helps with the acclimatization." Minato responded and was about to continue when he noticed they were coming up on the station. _Wouldn't even take ten minutes to get here if I was really moving, can't believe we got lost for almost an hour. I blame that stupid map. What map doesn't show the cardinal directions, or have a legend of some sort for that matter?_

The two slowed to a walk as they entered the train station, idling around waiting for the monorail to arrive. "Hey, isn't that the transfer student who was with Yukari-san the other day?" a few students were talking over by some vending machines.

Minato just sighed; he hated being the center of attention. _You'd think with a school as large as Gekkoukan, no one would take notice of a few transfer students, and even then_ something _more interesting should get people's attention quickly enough._

"Say, Sanada-Senpai, do you know when the sports clubs are going to start taking new members?" Minato asked to distract himself from the gossip, and he was genuinely curious.

"Should start next week, depending on the club, Boxing is full up so we won't be unless someone drops out, Archery too now that I think about it. Why? You gonna go out for Kendo?" Akihiko responded helpfully

Minato nodded, "It's a good way to stay in shape." He'd picked up kendo about seven years ago at his grandfather's insistence and had loved every second of it since. Minato had actually become very health conscious since the accident, as the crash had done a significant amount of damage and his immune system had almost completely failed as well. He'd finally been given a clean bill of health after almost a year in and out of the hospital and more surgeries than he cared to count, and was determined to keep it.

The train finally arrived, and the two continued comparing the benefits of Kendo and Boxing, as they stood near one of the doors, not bothering to actually sit down. After a while they got to the subject of diet and dietary supplements.

"A decent amount of protein in your diet is important senpai, but you have to practice moderation, a buildup of excess protein could make you very sick. You need a careful balance of everything to maintain homeostasis, but too much of any one thing will hurt you." Minato advised his senpai.

"Yeah but that's why I only do it before or after a workout, then it gets used up repairing muscles before it can buildup and become a problem. " Akihiko defended himself.

"True enough, but you still need to be careful, take some vitamin supplements or put a bit of diversity in your diet. What's your opinion on potatoes?" Minato continued the conversation

"They're okay, but why are you asking?" Akihiko looked confused

"Potatoes are one of the most nutritionally packed things in existence, just baking one and putting cheese or butter on it actually constitutes a nutritionally complete meal." Minato explained, "I could pick some up when I'm out with Hamuko today if you want me to."

"Yeah, yeah that sounds good, simple and easy to make." Akihiko looked thoughtful, "Any other advice?"

Minato thought for a second, "Try not to rely on supplements and shakes, they're just that, supplements. Your body isn't made to directly process that large of a concentration of any one thing, so try limiting the protein shakes and stuff to only after workouts. Eat a peanut butter sandwich or something with a lot of protein before, and get in a snack like an apple or some other fruit after. It's also important to remember to stay hydrated, always drink at least a bottle or two over the course of a workout, but that's just common sense." He finished

Akihiko looked impressed, "You know your stuff. So what made you decide to start working out?" He was actually curious.

Minato had a brief internal debate about talking about it before speaking. "Well, I won't go into detail, that's personal, but I will say I spent a long time in the hospital as a kid and absolutely hated it."

Akihiko nodded, and the two fell into an amicable silence for the rest of the ride to Port Island. Once there the two exited the train only to be accosted by a group of girls who had apparently been waiting. "Akihiko-senpai! Will you go out with me?" "You're sooo cool senpai!" and various other phrases that Minato was sure were straight out of an anime greeted the two. Picking up the pace, they managed to lose the girls, who apparently had at least the decency to stop once it was clear they were being ignored.

"Tch, sorry about that, they get annoying sometimes. " Akihiko apologized, "But anyways, now's when the run really starts." He smiled as he said that.

Minato for his part also smiled, and the two set off, this time at a much faster pace. They looped past the hospital, then went up to Paulownia Mall, actually going parallel to the school and passing Mitsuru, then looped around and went to Gekkoukan itself. It eventually turned into a pseudo-race, with both of them trying to get ahead of the other, while still keeping a sustainable speed. All in all they'd been running for nonstop for almost 45 minutes, though they slowed their pace twice to rest, before they stopped. They arrived at the school just after Hamuko and Yukari, the two girls walking and having their own conversation ahead of them.

"Now that was a good run, we should do it again Sanada-senpai." Minato said _a workout like that is a pretty good way to start the day off._

"Definitely, it'll be good to have someone who can keep up with me." Akihiko said with a knowing and somewhat hopeful look in his eye.

They had only just changed shoes and left the locker area when the warning bell to get to class sounded, "Well, looks like the run isn't quite over yet, eh Senpai?" Minato joked.

"Try not to be late." Akihiko responded the two sharing a brief glance before dashing off in opposite directions, rushing toward their respective classrooms.

* * *

Class 2-F, Afternoon

* * *

He'd barely made it, but Minato was not late for class that day. _Note to self, start a few minutes earlier when going for a run before school._ Classes had gone by fairly normally after that, though every teacher had some particular brand of insanity, Mr. Ono, for example, wore a samurai helmet spent the class lamenting about having to teach history other than that directly relating to the samurai themselves. There was also a Math Teacher who could barely do basic equations and rambled on about the "Aesthetics of the numbers" or some such nonsense. Right now they were in Composition with Ms. Toriumi, who apparently pulled double duty as an English teacher as well. _Then again, this school seems to be understaffed in general, hell they've even got the nurse teaching a few classes._

"Open your textbooks and we'll take a look at the first novel by… Zenzou Kasai." Ms. Toriumi pulled Minato out of his thoughts, focusing him on the lesion at hand. "Ugh… why him? I'd much rather teach Utsubo Kubota." _And there goes the illusion of there being any normal teachers here. Oh well at least this year will be interesting._

"He became famous as a singer, but he's also produced fine literature. " She continued on her mini-rant about Kubota. "I wonder why it's not in the textbook. Well, I'll just bring Kutoba's book next time." She stopped when she actually bothered to look at the students, "…Hey, Junpei! Were you listening? Who did I say was my favorite author?" she zeroed in on him, as he was looking out into space.

"H-huh? U-ummm…" he looked around like a deer caught in headlights, "psst, who does she like?" the man in the hat whispered to Minato, _okay, normally I would leave him to his fate, but given how inane and off topic that question is I'll help._

"Utsubo Kubota." He whispered back, which Junpei promptly repeated back to the class.

"Oh that's right! You were listening to me after all!" Ms. Toriumi seemed to perk up when Junpei answered correctly.

"Eheheheh… You know how I like to pay attention." The man in the hat said nervously. "Man you saved my bacon Minato." He went back to whispering.

"Everybody gets one." Minato responded, becoming mildly annoyed when all his classmates started talking about him. Hamuko just beamed at him and said "Good job," while looking rather pleased with the situation.

The class continued for a while after that, Junpei's correct answer apparently having appeased Ms. Toriumi enough to actually teach the material in the textbook with only minor grumbling on her part. So things went smoothly until she caught a student in the back sleeping and gave them an extra assignment along requiring them to bring her a slice of cake, something Minato was pretty sure was completely illegal. _They must be terribly understaffed; it's the only way to explain the sheer insanity of the teachers. The school must have just gotten desperate enough to just take anyone who applied._

* * *

Port Island station, after school

* * *

Hamuko was content, even if they were going to eventually move to other dorms, something she was personally starting to doubt from their dorm mates were acting, they now had enough food to last until the next time they got their allowance. She'd also gone ahead and repaid Minato from the change on this trip, seeing as yesterday's run to wasn't that expensive. Though it was somewhat hard for only two people to carry as many bags as they were currently lugging around.

"Hey, Minato, Hamuko, what's up?" Hamuko smiled when she heard Junpei's voice, she genuinely liked his upbeat attitude and found him a fun guy to be around.

Turning to greet him she gave a small wave that looked somewhat comical due to the groceries slung on her arm. "Hey Junpei, we're just headed back to our dorm with these groceries." She said

"Oh yeah? Here lemme, help with that. Least I can do after Ms. Toriumi's class." Junpei took some of the bags from each of them, lightening their load to a more reasonable level.

"Thanks, Iori-san" Minato said as he shifted his remaining bags to give himself greater freedom of movement.

"So, dude, I heard you came to school with Akihiko-senpai, what's up with that?" The Man and the Hat asked as he got a more comfortable hold on his new burden.

"He asked me if I wanted to go on a run with him before school is al. He lives at the dorm with us." Minato explained.

"Oh, wow, did you guys get lucky and get put in the cool people's dorm or what?" Junpei was shocked.

"Actually other than us it seems to be just Yukari-san, Akihiko-senpai, and Mitsuru-senpai." Hamuko interjected, "Though I don't think they're very good at taking care of themselves, all there was in the kitchen was instant ramen, bread, eggs, and a ton of protein shakes."

"Oh wow, so I guess Mitsuru-senpai gave you some money to get food then?" He asked

"Nah, Grandpa gave us some money for settling in, so I just used some of it to buy this, we really got lucky with a bunch of sales today." She responded.

Junpei looked impressed, "Dang, you certainly can take care of yourself; I can barely make instant ramen."

The three talked more on the way, with Junpei giving back his burden and heading home once they reached the dorm. As they walked through the door they heard Yukari's voice, "Oh, they're back."

She was sitting in the lounge with a man in a tan dress suit and black turtle neck. He seemed to be fairly tall and thin, his overly long brown hair falling to past his shoulders. As he turned to them Hamuko could see the glasses on his fact. "So these are our new guests…" He was about to continue but then noticed the bags in their hands. "Well, I suppose introductions can wait until they've put away those groceries. Why don't we help the out Yukari?" The quartet went to the kitchen and divided the work of putting everything up, spices; salt and other things went in the cabinets, while several assorted cheeses, vegies, fruits and meats, along with another liter of milk and a loaf of bread all went in the fridge. All in all while the food would last about a week or two, there were enough spices to last a few months.

Once that work was done, they went back out into the lounge where the man formally introduced himself "My name is Shuji Ikutski. I'm the Chairmen of the Board for Gekkoukan. 'Ikutski'… hard to says isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself; even I get tongue tied sometimes… but please have a seat."

Something about how Ikutski was carrying himself set off warning bells inside Hamuko's head. _Possible minor speech impediment aside, seriously Ikutski is not that hard to say, I can't help but be suspicious of him for some reason…_

The three teens moved to one of the couches, with Yukari in the middle, Minato closest to Ikutski and Hmauko on the other side.

"I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while longer for you to receive the proper room assignments. Is there anything you'd like to ask?" Ikutski said.

The way he'd said it all but confirmed Hamuko's earlier suspicions about the room assignments, _though now I'm starting to think it's a lot less benign than I originally thought it was._

From the subtle shift in her brother's body language she could tell that he was thinking along the same lines.

"Why are you here?" Her brother beat her to the punch, with about the only question in this situation that didn't have an obvious answer, or would arouse suspicion.

"To welcome you of course." Ikutski said far too quickly for Hamuko's liking, _He probably had this conversation planned out in advance._ The realization was not a comforting one to her, as Chairmen of the Board; he would have access to their files, meaning he could look at them to get a good idea of what to say and when.

"Well, to be honest, I do have other business here. Speaking of which… where's Mitsuru, Yukari?" He changed the subject before the twins could further inquire into his motives.

"She's upstairs." Yukari said, seeming a little off put by the subject change herself.

"As diligent as always. Although it doesn't hurt to come down and say hello. Is there anything else?" Ikutski continued to dominate the course of the conversation, leaving the twins only an illusion of control. Conceding defeat they both said no, "Then I hope you have a successful school year. Now, if you'll excuse me… You must be tired from all that excitement, you should go to bed early. As they say 'the early bird catches the book worm!'" He chuckled at his own humor, "Please forgive the pun." Then he went upstairs, presumably to talk to Mitsuru.

Yukari sighed, "You'll get used to his lame jokes."

Hamuko locked eyes with her brother, the two reaching the consensus to search their rooms for anything odd, considering that Ikutski just told them to go to bed, and it was only a quarter to seven. They gave a good night to Yukari, and quickly went upstairs, at the second floor landing Minato grabbed her before she could keep going, "Don't do anything if you find something, we'll talk about what to do tomorrow." He spoke in what she'd deemed his 'Big Brother Voice'.

He then went to his own room, leaving her to make her way to hers. As she got to the third floor she saw Ikutski deep in conversation with Mitsuru, they abruptly stopped with they saw her. Hamuko decided to give a casual wave as she passed. Going down the hall to her room she made sure not to give them a second glance. Once Hamuko was inside she begain to look around for anything out of place, she checked her desk, her bed, her bookshelf, eventually after finding nothing in those places, her eyes swept the wall, looking for any off tint coloration or bumps.

After finding nothing for a while she almost gave up, when she say what appeared to be a small bump, only visible because of the contrast created by a shadow made by light reflecting off of her MP3 and hitting the boxes. Most would dismiss it as a trick of the light, but she wanted to be sure, so taking a hand mirror she tried to extrapolate the effect, and succeeded, the bump turned out to be a rise too perfect to be anything benign and too well positioned to be anything but a camera. _Note to self, never call Grandpa Johei paranoid again._

She took out her phone and texted her brother, -found something on the top of my wall, near the corner across from the door, I think it's a camera.-

It took a few minutes for Minato to respond, - I have one too, same place, I'm going to ask Grandfather about this and see if he has any advice. Try to get your homework done and get some sleep. I'll tell you if he says anything tomorrow-

Hamuko put away her phone and sighed, _try to get some sleep he says, yeah right, like I can sleep knowing someone's watching me._ She spent the rest of the night doing homework and once that was done, she eventually managed to read herself to sleep.

* * *

? Late Night

* * *

Minato had only just gone to sleep after sending a message to his grandfather when he was seemingly awakened, no that wasn't the right word, it felt like he was awake but at the same time he was still sleeping. A quick glance around showed he was in what appeared to be a massive blue elevator rapidly going upwards, with a large clock rapidly turning across from him , his sister there as well, sitting in a lyre shaped chair and looking just as confused as he felt. He also ascertained that the two were not alone, across from them, on the other side of a small table with a blue cloth sat a small man with an enormous nose, pointed ears, and eyes that were far too large for a human being. On either side of his loveseat stood two people, on man and one woman in blue elevator attendant uniforms, with striking pure silver hair and gold eyes, both held some sort of large grimiore.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young guests." The small imp of a man spoke, and a song started to play, a soothing yet mysterious piano piece with haunting vocals that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." The Small man continued, "This is Elizabeth and Theodore." He gestured to the other two, "They are resident's here like myself."

"Pleased to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

They started speaking at the same time, though Theodore's greeting was longer than Elizabeth's.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It's been years since we've had a guest." Igor seemed to exude a happy and somewhat excited energy, then he waved his hand and the contracts from when they first entered the dorm appeared on the table and opened themselves. "Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place. Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room." He exclaimed "You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return, that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make."

Minato nodded his head, "I intended to do that regardless."

"Excellent, and what of you my young dear, will you abide by the contract?"

Hamuko if anything looked even more confused, "Yes, but I really don't understand what's going on…"

Igor nodded, in what Minato assumed to be sympathy, "That is fine, for now." He made another motion with his arm and two blue keys appeared floating down into their hands. "Hold on to these."

"Till we meet again." He said in parting once they had the keys in hand, the image of the Velvet room becoming more and more blurry and indistinct by the second.

* * *

4/9 Morning

* * *

Minato awoke thinking about how strange the dream was, only to find the key still in his hand even in the waking world. S _o more than a dream then? I'll have to talk to Hamuko about it after school, damn first the cameras and now this, what's next eldritch abominations? Maybe a literal field trip into hell?_

Just then he heard his phone vibrate, he opened it and saw a message from his Grandfather, -I'll look into things on my end, but I think I have a hunch on what's going on, just wait for me to get some answers on my end, I should have them by tomorrow. All in all though I think you'll be fine. Naoto wants you two to call soon, but if you do call before I get back to you on this, don't tell her anything.–

"Well that's that at least." He muttered as he went to start his day, grabbing his school uniform and heading to the showers. He was nearly done when he heard Akihiko enter the stall next to his. "Hey Minato, you up for another run this morning?" Minato briefly contemplated it, "Sorry Sanada-senpai, there's some things I need to go over with Hamuko this morning. How's tomorrow sound?" _Probably best to tell her what Grandfather said first, the Velvet Room can wait. Though it might be best to bring the key just in case._

"Yeah, tomorrow sounds good, I'm thinking if we get up early enough we could go the whole way without taking the train. Maybe freeze something tonight and heat it for breakfast before we go." Akihiko was actually getting excited at the prospect of running that far.

"Maybe not that, but I'm not opposed to the route we did yesterday." Minato finished washing and proceeded to dry himself off, "Seriously though senpai, you'd have to eat a ton just to balance that out, well unless you have an ungodly metabolism like my sister, then you might need two or three tons. Speaking of Hamuko and Food, I believe she's making pancakes this morning." He'd put on his uniform as was walking out the door as he spoke. Moving back into his room he finish getting ready for school, and shoved the Velvet Key in his pocket.

He ran into Yukari on the way down, having heard Akihiko get ready "Good morning Minato-san!" She sounded and looked a bit awkward around him, _probably saw us snooping around for the cameras last night, or is just against the spying thing in general. I'll ask her after Grandfather gets back to me._ "Good morning Takeba-san." He replied, setting aside his analysis of her body language.

"So, Hamuko rushed past me this morning, she said something about pancakes…" His dorm mate seemed more confused than anything

"Our Mother called it the 'All American' it basically consists of an ungodly amount of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. She got the idea while she was studying abroad in university according to Grandfather. Hamuko only makes it when she's celebrating something or if she's upset." Minato explained as they reached the first floor

Yukari seemed to try to come up with a response, eventually settling on a simple "Oh", which was promptly repeated as the two walked into the dining area, a large stack of pancakes was at the center of the table, with a plate piled with bacon to one side and a large bowl of eggs on the other, all in all it was probably more than even five people could eat. Hamuko was already eating a rather large amount herself.

"The All American." Was all Minato said before grabbing a plate and piling food on it, _good thing I'm planning on joining kendo, otherwise I might just have to take Akihiko up on that longer run._

Yukari slowly copied his actions, looking at the two from the corner of her eye. Minato noticed but didn't care, locking eyes with his sister, and sending the silent message of "We need to talk", apparently it was received because she nodded back to him.

"Holy hell…" Minato turned to look at the two seniors standing in shock at the amount of food before them.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru recovered first and scolded him. _Well I suppose that's one way to save face, if nothing else._

"Senpai! Have as much as you like, I made plenty." Hamuko beamed at them, Yukari seemed to release some of the tension she'd been unconsciously holding when she heard the other girl's cheery voice. Minato knew it wasn't a false cheer either, she'd apparently been thinking on the situation and reached a conclusion that she liked. _Probably the same one I've reached, but we could both be way off base. Naoto has always been better at this kind of thing than us._

The five spent a good twenty minutes trying to finish the food, with Hamuko eating the most by far, but even then they had to put some in the fridge, choosing to just have it for dinner. With a plethora of thank you's from the other dorm mates as they went on their separate routes to school the two fell into a silent walk.

"So, did Grandpa get back to you?" Hamuko was the one that broke it.

"Yes, he says he thinks we should be fine, but he wants to check. So don't do anything, and don't mention it to Naoto." He responded.

"Right, and the Velvet Room? I know it wasn't just a dream." She took out her Key, now that he had the chance to see it up close; there were minute but noticeable differences to his own.

"Wait and see I guess, we could scour Port Island and Iwatodai, but it's such a large area that it would take days for us to find the entrance, if at all. And that's assuming we knew what to look for, which we don't." He answered "So, why the All American?"

"I was thinking, and remember how in Kyoto some people would sometimes be in that time, but only for one day and then never again? Well I think that's what the cameras are for, to see if us being active was just a onetime thing or not. Add that to the fact we know for a fact at least Yukari-san and Mitsuru-senpai don't walk around in coffins and it all comes together. They're like us, and they wanna see if we're able to operate during that time. We're not alone! So that's why I made the All American!" She was giving a 100 mega-watt smile during her quiet exposition.

"There are other possibilities, but that seems like the most reasonable one, taking Grandfather's response into account." He actually started to think of the implications of that, "Say, the armbands, do you remember what they said?"

"What?" The confused look she gave her made the vocalization totally redundant.

"The armbands Krijio-senpai and Takeba-san were wearing when we got to the dorm, do you remember what they said?" He elaborated his previous question.

"Now that you mention it, they were wearing the same armband, it had some sort of Acronym on it, but I can't remember the letters." She scrunched her face in thought as she spoke. "And those gun things, they're definitely more than a support group." She contemplated but then she smiled, and giggled, "Look at us, cracking into a mystery, and here I thought Naoto was the junior detective."

"Pfft, if Naoto were here, it'd probably already be solved; we aren't nearly as good as her when it comes to this." He gave a chuckle of his own. "We'll have to give her a call later today won't we? "

"But of course, and as her favorite cousin/older sibling figure, I get to talk to her first~!" She sing-songed

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Hamuko, whatever helps you sleep at night." He said playfully

* * *

Gekkoukan, Morning.

* * *

"Ahem… I'm Mr. Ekoda. I'll be teaching you Classic Literature." Mr. Ekoda stood at the front of the class in a grey suit, his whole demeanor giving off a sense of hostility and defensiveness. "I'll be teaching you about good old Japan all year. Some people say classic lit. isn't relevant to everyday life, but oh, how they're wrong!" He continued into a full on outburst, "The students, the other teachers… Wrong, wrong, wrong! Nobody understands Classic Literature…" _Wow, but is his inferiority complex making me want to sleep, should I, on the pro side, I won't have to listen to him, but on the cons if I get caught he might single me out… Yeah becoming the target of that walking case study on inferiority isn't worth it._

"Hey… are you listening to me!? You children, open your textbooks. First on our syllabus is "Ise Monogatari," the origin of Japanese Literature. It's a very interesting story; you youngsters might call it, 'da bomb'." Ekoda continued

 _Dear God/Lucifer/Cthulhu/Vishnu/Odin/other assorted deities and eldritch horrors, whatever I've done to deserve this punishment, I truly am sorry. Really I am, so could you please just end this, I promise I won't do it again, I swear._

He sighed, "I can tell you people are zoning out…"

And so the lesion dragged on, and was surprisingly much more tolerable after that point, Minato's prayer for deliverance seemingly heard by some kind entity.

* * *

Afterschool

* * *

The two walked home with Junpei, getting into a heated debate about who would win in a fight between Boba Fett and Samus, with Junpei actually having solid reasoning for backing Samus, while Hamuko was quick to point out Boba Fett's escapades in the books. Minato then pointed out that not only does Samus constantly lose the neigh irreplaceable gear that is literally integrated into her armor at the start of every game, but also how Boba Fett got eaten by the same completely immobile creature multiple times. This lead to him being called a kill joy repeatedly on the train ride to Iwotodai station.

The good natured teasing continued until Junpei parted was to return to his own home, the twins then continued to talk on their own the way back to the dorm. Once they got there they noticed the other three where out, so they took the opportunity to call Naoto, putting the phone on speaker so they could both talk at once.

"Hello Minato." They could hear they're younger cousin just bursting with questions.

"What, no greeting for me!? I feel, shocked, betrayed, it's almost like I'm not your favorite Nao-chan!" Hamuko said, Minato then spoke, "We're alone right now so we put you on speaker."

"Oh, hello to you to Hamuko." The 13 year old's voice conveyed feigned exasperation at her cousin's antics.

The conversation then flowed into them answering a barrage of questions from the overly curious girl on Gekkoukan and their dorm mates. A rapid fire interrogation and a fair bit of teasing took the better part of an hour before Naoto hung up to do her homework. By that point the twins had moved to Minato's room for privacy, at least in a relative sense, as the others began arriving home. Once the call was done they went and heated up dinner, having more small talk with the others before moving back to their own rooms to do their own homework and sleep.

* * *

4/9 Dark hour

* * *

Minato was awakened rather violently by an earthquake level of shaking, quickly throwing on something, which just happened to be his pajama bottoms, a random white tee, and his uniform blazer, he was about to open the door when Yukari banged on it. "WAKE UP! Sorry but I'm coming in!" the door, which he'd been sure to lock was suddenly flung open and she ran in awkwardly holding a short sword, Hamuko stood behind her in just her pjamas uncertainly holding a naginata.

"I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here now!" Yukari was clearly panicked by whatever the hell was happening. _Probably not gonna be able to get a straight answer out of her in this state._

"Then let's go." He said, burying his own growing trepidation under a façade of calm.

Just then the building shook again, and it was accompanied by a loud bang, almost as if a truck had just rammed the dorm.

"Hurry downstairs, we'll leave through the back door!" She started to turn "Wait" she handed him the sword, "take this, just in case." He nodded, and gripped the hilt. _Certainly sharper than a Shinai that's for sure,_ He noted

"Okay, let's go!" She sounded more confident now, either by the fact they could protect themselves, or the calm air he was faking Minato couldn't tell.

They made a mad dash down the stairs, in attempt to reach the back door as quickly as possible, a plan that lasted until they actually got to their chosen escape route.

"Alright, we should be safe now… " Yukari was breathing a little quickly

 _She said, without irony_ Minato snarked in his head, _hmm, I'm being sarcastic in what is most likely a life or death situation, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing._

Hamuko simply looked confused now, having gained back some confidence.

Their relief was short lived as a transceiver in Yukari's ear buzzed, "Y-yes, I hear you!" Minato couldn't make out what the other person was saying, he did hear the panicked "WHAT!?" that came after though.

Then a loud bang erupted from the door, as something tried to force its way in, causing the three to jump back.

 _Definitely heard_ that _though_

"L-let's pull back!" Yukari stuttered as the banging continued. And pull back they did, going back up the stairs as fast as they came down

They'd just gotten to the second floor when what Minato could only assume was the sound of the door being destroyed reached their ears. "What are we going to do? They're downstairs!" Yukari was not handling the situation well, _which is bad, because she's the only one that knows what the actual fuck is going on._

Minato spoke this time "If we can't go down the only way left is up!" he somehow managed to keep his voice even despite having absolutely no desire to find out what was downstairs.

After Yukari registered his statement, a mad dash to the roof ensued that put their earlier hurry to get down to shame. With occasional breaking and shaking coming from increasingly nearby sources to keep them motivated they reached the roof before the other things did. Hamuko bent down and breathed rapidly and deeply, totally out of breath from the escape.

 _Okay assuming whatever the hell we're running from can't climb at a 90 degree angle with almost no hand holds we'll be fine._

Yukari sighed in relief, "I think we're okay for now…" just then a large black hand grabbed onto the railing on the end of the roof.

 _Fuck, shouldn't have tempted fate._

More hand gripped the wall as the creature began to haul itself up, a single hand rising above the rest gripping a blue mask with the Roman numeral I on the forehead and turning it like a periscope. After a second of looking around, as it were, the eye holes of the mask zeroed in on them.

 _Oh, it can see us… OH FUCK THAT THING CAN SEE US!_ This realization was enough to break Minato's façade, causing his eyes to widen and his body to start shaking, he senses went into overdrive. But through it all he could feel a faint, calling, at the back of his mind, as if something was telling him to release it.

Then the monster pulled dozens of swords out of nowhere, all of them shaped vaguely like a cross between a sewing needle and a scissor blade, but no less deadly for it, considering they were about as long as he was tall. It pulled itself over the edge, showing its form to be nothing more than arms coming out of a black mass; it used its free arms to rapidly pull itself towards them.

Yukari got between them and it, "Those monsters, we call them shadows." Then she pulled the gun at her hip and put it to her head.

"Wai-" Minato was cut off as she pulled the trigger and some sort of blue energy swirled around her, then she tried again, having evidently failed to do what she intended.

The Shadow reached her and the attempted to impale her on one of its swords, she managed to dodge, unfortunately, though she avoided getting impaled, the not-gun flew to Minato's feet, and Yukari got a nasty cut on her leg. Apparently satisfied she was no longer a threat, if it had truly considered her one in the first place, the Shadow turned its attention to the twins. For Minato everything seemed to be going in slow motion, the faint tugging in his head became a rapid pounding throughout his skull as something in his mind demanded to be released. Heartbeat in his ears he reached down and picked up the weapon from the pool of blood by his feet.

"Go on." The voice of the boy from their arrival at the dorm echoed through his skull.

Cradling the tool in his hands, the pounding in his head subsided, replaced by a cool certainty and a silent promise of power. He slowly put the barrel to his head, finger firmly on the trigger, as a word forced its way through his lips, he instinctively knew it was the name for the power he felt in his mind. "Per…so….na" it felt alien on his tongue, yet at the same time it felt right, like greeting a long lost friend.

He depressed the trigger, hearing the hammer crash and feeling the recoil, despite this, however, nothing came out of the barrel, indeed where brain, blood and skull should have been ejected by the round, instead there was what looked like shattered, glowing blue glass. Above him a large figure formed in the column of blue energy that suddenly surrounded Minato. A seemingly mechanical body, with its torso being a light blue, the upper part of its limbs unpainted metal, and blow the rest white was a pale white, it had a red scarf on, completely obscuring the neck, it's head was a matte black, with glowing red eyes and stark white hair, it carried a giant white lyre on its back. Then the being spoke its words echoing through the twisted night.

 _ **Thou art I**_

 _ **And I am thou**_

 _ **From the sea of thy soul I cometh**_

 _ **I am Orpheus, Master of Strings!**_

It punctuated this declaration with an unnatural roar, which was followed by an explosion of fire on the shadow, driving it back. Minato smiled, the power feeling right to him, coming as naturally as walking or breathing. The jubilation was short lived however, as a splitting pain quickly shot its way through him, centered in skull. He yelled in pain bending over and clutching his head as Orpheus was torn apart from the inside. As the pain reached its height the persona was torn asunder in a spectacular fashion, leaving a much darker creature in its place.

This being was a dull black all on its torso and head, what passed for the creature's face was a bone skull that looked to be from some sort of dragon or dinosaur, complemented by its white gloves and legs, which contrasted with its black torso. Eight thin coffins were chained to its back, serving as a macabre set of wings. In its hand the creature held a cruel sword that gave off an aura of pain and death. Unlike Orpheus this creature gave no words, merely a hateful roar, before proceeding to brutalize the shadow. It cut into its arms with its blade, ripping and tearing at anything it could grab with the other hand. It was over in seconds as the last remaining arm of the shadow was crushed in its grip. Then it looked at Hamuko, even with no eyes or facial features to speak of, the waves of contempt could be felt coming off the creature, it held her in its gaze for another minute, before simply turning back into Orpheus.

* * *

Hamuko had never been so afraid in her life as she had in those endless seconds under the creature's gaze. She nearly collapsed out of relief when it turned back into Orpheus, but then she noticed that it continued to look at her, with what she could have sworn was pity. She met the persona's gaze and it held the stare before returning to her brother's side. Then smaller shadows began to climb onto the roof, "Agi!" The strange word came out of Minato's mouth like a command and the persona obeyed, strumming its lyre before one of the shadows erupted in fire and died, while Minato finished another with a well-placed thrust into its mask.

 _Okay Hamuko you can do this, the big one is dead, just aim for the masks and everything will be fine…_

"Hamuko!" she turned just in time to see him throw the gun at her. After barely catching it she scrutinized it closely, and felt the same tugging Minato had, less insistent but there all the same. "I am thou." She whispered as she copied her brother's earlier action, she saw him fighting more of the small shadows with Orpheus, burning and stabbing. She pulled the trigger.

 _ **Thou art I**_

 _ **And I am thou**_

 _ **From the sea of thy soul I cometh**_

 _ **I am Persephone, Queen of Hades!**_

Her persona took the form of a mechanical woman, her body the color of pale skin, covered in a flowing red sleeveless robe that split mid-thigh, showing off her black thigh high boots and gloves. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into an impossibly high ponytail; her piercing blue eyes gazed outwards at the shadows. Disturbingly, however, Persephone had long bronze chains attached to her ankles, wrists and neck, secured by painful looking shackles.

Hamuko only spent a second taking in the appearance of her persona before joining her brother in the fray, thrusting and swinging her naginata with a precision she would have been perplexed at had she taken the time to think about it. "Garu!" she commanded Persephone to unleash a scything blast of wind on the shadows, pushing them back and severing their black limbs. Eventually the twins fell into synch, Hamuko using her sweeping strikes to cover Minato when he in dashed to stab or otherwise disable any shadow that exposed itself by trying to strike at them, and they used Garu and Agi in conjunction to cover a larger area with the flames. With their more efficient, if still somewhat clumsy, teamwork the two managed to best the last of the shadows after about a few more minutes of fighting.

"W-w-w-we did it!" Hamuko was panting heavily, leaning heavily on her weapon for support, as Persephone retreated into her mind.

"Great." Was all Minato managed to say before he fell forward unconscious, Orpheus simply disappearing immediately beforehand.

"MINATO!" She only just managed to stop him from falling on his sword, Yukari meanwhile finally recovered from the shock of the past few minutes enough to help, rushing over to check if he was okay, rolling him onto his back and feeling for a pulse. Hamuko however began panicking, "No, no no no no no no no, this can't be happening, this can't be happening." Tears were starting to form in her eyes as she looked at her brother on the ground, Yukari attempting to wake him up once she determined his vitals were all there.

Just then the door flew open, and the seniors rushed out, Akihiko, quickly checking over Yukari's work, before setting aside a first aid kit and moving to pick up Minato, Hamuko having been pushed to the side by her classmate, rushed over to embrace her unconscious twin, steadfastly refusing to let go. After a minute of fighting the girl in pink and the boxer managed to peel her off with Misturu's help, said woman, held her underclassmen in an iron grip while she gave orders. "Akihiko, the Dark Hour is ending in a few minutes, and the Chairmen is going to call for an ambulance, stay with Arisato until then." The other Senior nodded carrying Minato into the building, "Takeba, go take care of your leg, it doesn't look that bad but looks can be deceiving."

"Yes, ma'am." Yukari gave an apologetic look to Hamuko, still struggling and now openly crying while muttering her brother's name incoherently, before turning and limping off the roof.

With the others gone, Mitsuru turned her attention to the girl in her grip, steadily lowering her to the ground as, she noticed that she was the only thing actually keeping Hamuko standing, kneeling over the now sitting girl she spoke in a soft voice, as one would speak to a scared animal. "Hamuko, Hamuko I need you to look at me, he's only exhausted from summoning his persona, Minato is going to be fine." She loosened her grip on Hamuko's arms; just enough to make her not feel trapped but also enough to trap her again should she need to, the other girl looked into her eyes, searching for any signs of deception. Apparently satisfied with what she saw as Mitsuru held her gaze, she began to calm down. Once she was at least fully calm Mitsuru began quietly prodding Hamuko and directing her to downstairs with little resistance due to shock and exhaustion of both the physical and mental varieties, she eventually got her down to the first floor just as the world returned to normal though by that point the younger girl was leaning on her heavily just to stay up. By the time the ambulances arrived to take the three underclassmen to Tatsumi Memorial Hopital, Yukari's leg needed stiches, the last vestiges of adrenaline had worked their way out of Hamuko's system and she was fast asleep.

And so the Journey began.

* * *

 **AN: So there's chapter two down, Honestly I thought this one was gonna be a lot shorter, as there's not really a lot that happens in the first two days, you're just introduced to the class mechanics and then you get a really easy tutorial fight. There's only so much I can do even with adding my own fluff to fill the gaps. Honestly the thing I'm most disappointed in is the fight, yeah I know it's basically a tutorial where losing is next to impossible even if you try because you're fighting like three cowardly maya's, that I'm convinced are nerfed somehow. So I had to rely on the characters to carry the day, cause let's face it Thanatos drank some of that OP juice before he popped out of Minato's head.**

 **As for the Mitsuru thing let me explain, that was just her saying soothing things to calm down a girl having a panic attack, as someone who has dealt with that kind of thing before it's not really about what you say, so much as how you say it. And you'd have to be emotionally retarded, and yes I'm using that term correctly, to fuck it up, Mitsuru is emotionally stunted, so she's capable of the needed level of empathy and projection, even if she's somewhat awkward about it.**

 **On to the self-deprecation, once again my overall though on this is, it could have been better. Maybe one day when I've honed my skills a bit more, and it's not two in the morning I can come back and rewrite it to my satisfaction. Overall I think the pacing's a bit funny for my liking, it goes from too fast to too slow and I can't think of a way to fix it without screwing up the flow in some other way. I used its way too fucking much at the end there, but that's for lack of a better word more than anything else. I could go on about the various things I think could have been done better but then the author's note would end up as long as the chapter so I'll end this here.**

 **Thank you for reading and please review and critique so that I can improve, and I'll be sure to answer any questions you have. Until next time.**


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